An Attorney is somebody legally empowered to represent another person, or act on their behalf.

A Lawyer is somebody who can give legal advice and has been trained in the law.

Are Attorney and Lawyer are synonyms? Basically yes, but they are not necessarily Interchangeable terms, you cannot for instance say I give you the Power of a Lawyer, but you definitely might say I give you the power of Attorney…

Look again at the above definitions, does it now make any sense? Off course it does.

An attorney in fact is an agent who conducts business under authority that is controlled and limited by a written document called a letter, or power, of attorney granted by the principal. An attorney at law is an officer of a court of law authorized to represent the person employing him (the client) in legal proceedings.

A Solicitor- One that solicits, especially one that seeks trade or contributions. The chief law officer of a city, town, or government department but does not act as an advocate in court, as opposed to the Attorney who pleads in court. (English Law).

A Barrister(Called Advocate in Scotland) presents the case in court. Most senior and distinguished barristers are designated King’s (Queen’s) counsel.

A Counselor at law- In the past at least in some U.S states there was a distinction between the term A Counselor at Law who argued the case in court and an attorney who prepared the case but didn’t argue it.

Nowadays an attorney at law is authorized to exercise all the functions of a practicing lawyer. All of them must, however, like the ordinary attorney, be admitted to the bar. The term attorney is also used for county, state, and federal prosecuting officers, as county attorney, district attorney, and attorney general.

Lawyers, also called attorneys, act as both advocates and advisors in our society. As advocates, they represent one of the parties in criminal and civil trials by presenting evidence and arguing in court to support their client. As advisors, lawyers counsel their clients concerning their legal rights and obligations and suggest particular courses of action in business and personal matters. Although all lawyers are licensed to represent parties in court, some appear in court more frequently than others. Trial lawyers, who specialize in trial work, must be able to think quickly and speak with ease and authority. In addition, familiarity with courtroom rules and strategy is particularly important in trial work. Still, trial lawyers spend the majority of their time outside the courtroom, conducting research, interviewing clients and witnesses, and handling other details in preparation for trial.

Lawyers types:

The legal system affects nearly every aspect of our society, from buying a home to crossing the street. Lawyers hold positions of great responsibility and are obligated to adhere to a strict code of ethics.

The more detailed aspects of a lawyer’s job depend upon his or her field of specialization and position. Although all lawyers are licensed to represent parties in court, some appear in court more frequently than others.

Lawyers may specialize in a number of different areas, such as bankruptcy, probate, international, or elder law. Those specializing in environmental law, for example, may represent public-interest groups, waste disposal companies, or construction firms in their dealings with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other Federal and State agencies. These lawyers help clients prepare and file for licenses and applications for approval before certain activities may occur. In addition, they represent clients’ interests in administrative adjudications.

Some lawyers concentrate in the growing field of intellectual property, helping to protect clients’ claims to copyrights, artwork under contract, product designs, and computer programs. Still other lawyers advise insurance companies about the legality of insurance transactions, writing insurance policies to conform with the law and to protect companies from unwarranted claims.

Most lawyers are found in private practice, where they concentrate on criminal or civil law. In criminal law, lawyers represent individuals who have been charged with crimes and argue their cases in courts of law. Attorneys dealing with civil law assist clients with litigation, wills, trusts, contracts, mortgages, titles, and leases. Other lawyers handle only public-interest cases—civil or criminal—which may have an impact extending well beyond the individual client.

These issues might involve patents, government regulations, and contracts with other companies, property interests, or collective-bargaining agreements with unions.

Other lawyers work for legal-aid societies—private, nonprofit organizations established to serve disadvantaged people. These lawyers generally handle civil, rather than criminal, cases. A relatively small number of trained attorneys work in law schools.

The real life situations have created “specialties” according to business profitability. This is how terms like Vioxx Lawyer, DUI Lawyer, Lemon Law Lawyer , Structured Settlements Lawyer and others came about.

Because location of your injury lawyer is pretty irrelevant in so far as far as selecting a lawyer is concerned, you can have your pick of the best in the Country.
So how do you go about selecting the right one for you, here are 5 top tips to keeping you on the right course:

1. Knowledge:

You should make sure your injury lawyer knows his/her stuff. This gets more important the bigger the claim and the more complicated the claim. It sounds a pretty obvious point, and it’s probably the least you expect from an injury lawyer, but trust me, the knowledge that injury lawyers holds varies considerably. If injury lawyers don’t keep updated and well informed of relevant legal developments/changes then it may affect your claim.

To improve your chances of speaking to a solicitor that knows there stuff, you should seek advice from a specialist Injury Lawyer with expert experience in injury claims -
You can’t really expect a General Solicitor or a Criminal Lawyer to provide you with the level of service that a specialist Injury Lawyer can provide.

2. Application:

It’s all very well your injury lawyer knowing his/her stuff, but they have also got to apply there knowledge and to make sure your claim is progressed efficiently. All the injury claims knowledge in the world isn’t going to get those letters and chasers in the post – if your Injury Lawyer is to busy to handle your claim this can seriously delay settlement.

Knowledge + Application = Quicker Compensation Settlement

3. Negotiation/Advocacy:

They may know there stuff and do the work, but is your Injury Lawyer equipped to negotiate the best settlement for you. The best get on the telephone and personally speak to the other insurers to try and get the best for your settlement.

Is your injury lawyer equipped to negotiate the best settlement for you? How well they negotiate with the other insurers on the phone can drastically improve the compensation you may receive.
It doesn’t matter whether they use charm or fear, as long as they use the best method to get you the best results.

4. Friendly and Approachable:

Do you like your Injury Lawyer? Do they treat you with the respect that you deserve?
An injury claim can be a long process, and you may find that you speak to your Injury Lawyer frequently and over a long period of time. Therefore, it’s important that you can get on with your Injury Lawyer and feel comfortable with giving them a call at anytime.

5. Conviction:

The worst thing that you can get from an “Injury Lawyer” is “no advice” – It’s almost as bad as “bad advice”.

Injury Lawyers are there to advise, so that is exactly what they should do – give good advice.
However, there are many circumstances when it’s not always possible for your Injury Lawyer to give definitive advice and it would be negligent for a Solicitor to do so in such a circumstance, but they should at least bring this to your attention that the advice you may be receiving is not 100% absolute.

If you are unsure of the advice given by your injury lawyer then give them a call, explain what it is you are unsure of, you may be pleasantly surprised with the response.